THE ELK IN NORWAY. 113 



THE ELK IN NORWAY. 



In olden times, when the population of Europe was 

 considerably less than at the present day, and when the 

 climate withal was much colder, and but little land, 

 comparatively, under cultivation, the elk-deer was com- 

 mon in Central Europe. Julius Caesar speaks of it 

 as being found in the Hercynian forest ; and, indeed, 

 the Eomans knew of its existence in Scandinavia, with 

 which country they had commercial relations, and where 

 they also had regular agents established. The Greeks, 

 however, do not seem to have been acquainted with 

 it, if we may take the absence of any allusion to it 

 in the works of Aristotle or Herodotus as a negative 

 proof. 



The elk has long since disappeared from Germany. 

 I believe 1746 is the date when the last elk was shot in 

 Saxony. 



In company with the reindeer, the elk made its 

 appearance in the peninsula of Scandinavia at a time 

 when the province of Scania was connected with the 

 continent of Germany. Judging from the numerous 

 fossil remains that have been found in the peat-bogs 

 and morasses of Scania, it may be inferred that elk-deer 

 were formerly very numerous here, and also of a larger 

 size tnan the animals now existing. And even in the 

 mediaeval ages they must have been tolerably plentiful 



